Inspiration

Q:

Do you think that Clubhouse has value? I’ve just recently joined and it seems to.

A:

I’m seeing CH as a major player in our industry so might as well get involved now. Looks like a great platform to join others for education and inspiration. It’s also an opportunity for photographers to step up to the plate and develop a topical discussion on CH for their own marketing. Join the ride and get on there! Hey, photographers can be so isolated, so anything that can help us open our doors and hear what it’s like for others can always be helpful.

My sixth-grade art teacher Ms Johnson said, “if someone copies your idea, that means you had a really good idea.”

The same goes for treatments.

Don’t hold back because the only way your idea won’t be used by others is if you never get the job.

There is a lot of apprehension from putting your secret ideas into your treatments because you may think the client may steal it and use it with someone else. That’s really not how it works. A client is going to hire a photographer based on their treatment and of other things. You might inspire them. But even if you share your idea and then they use that idea on another shoot with another photographer, what are we going to do? We can’t stop them. You have to give all of yourself to the treatment: every idea you have, the locations, the whole production, the schedule, and how you would make it all happen. If you don’t share all of your ideas you’re not really showing who you are and you probably won’t get the job.

Doing the RESEARCH on potential clients is the difference between allowing your career to be guided by the calls you receive vs. shaping your future by going out there to get the clients you want.

We are moving on with the new year and one of the biggest, most important things to do is research. It is difficult. It’s a way to educate ourselves on the clients we want to get to bring our careers to the next level. We must keep a good database and keep researching on LinkedIn. We have to know who to contact, who to engage with and who to stay in front of. It’s really simple, but difficult. Research and contact people on LinkedIn. It can’t be like a mass email kind of feeling from you. You have to use their name and add a note. It takes time, but it’s probably the most important thing to do if you want to advance your career.

Let’s get started here. 

BRING IT 2021!

What is your top list of clients you’d love to work with?

And we’re back! Sounds like a sporting event, but we’re getting our heads back in the game. Here we go—it’s a new year, and we’re shaking off the cobwebs from last year. This might not be very rational, but let’s make a list of clients we want to work with. Let your ideas flow without editing them as you go. This exercise is about imagining and seeing what comes out. You might learn something about yourself and the direction you want to take.

Give yourself time to identify these clients. Browse through websites of other photographers, explore, and use pen and paper—go old-fashioned. Really take the time to do this. The first step is to get clear and set our sights. New year, bring it on!

If this new year can be anything, it can be our way of getting back on our own track. 

Before we get started back up again in our busy lives, we have to reset our direction in the way that we want it to go. We often get so caught up in the search and the hunt for jobs and we get busier and busier and we’re not thinking where we want to take this. It becomes where are the jobs taking us. We can’t let that business take our focus away.

Successful businesses are open to growth. So much of our business doesn’t change when we can’t see outside of our own routine. 

Happy holidays!

Happy holidays! In this really strange time, we don’t know what to expect or where we’ve been. It’s something we can’t control, so the best we can do is enjoy the holiday. Take a step back, break out of our usual patterns, and use this time to see things from a new perspective. Since so much of our business remains routine, a break from it can lead to new insights. Here’s to fresh thoughts and new possibilities. Happy holidays!

You are in the business of keeping it fresh for your clients, so keep your own company fresh.

People are keeping it fresh, and what I mean is that they’re trying new things. Producers, consultants, reps, and photographers. All of us are doing something new and trying to market ourselves in a new way. We have people we want to hire us to keep them fresh, why wouldn’t we keep it fresh? Brainstorm with people you work with, even if you say no to their ideas, it gets your brain working on new ideas. Try new things, new equipment or a new posting on Instagram. Try something new that you don’t know. Try the unknown and make it something you work on. We talk about testing all the time. Test, test, test. Push yourself to keep yourself fresh. Put it out there, whether it’s something you’re interested in, or sharing who you are, or something you’d be bringing to a job or shooting more motion. There’s so many things you can do to show that you’re a fresh thinker.

“You’ll learn more in one hour of doing something than in a lifetime of thinking about it.”

-Marc Randolph, Netflix founder

It’s a heavy time right now, so keeping our own focus where we invest back into ourselves may be the way to keep that glass half full.

On Monday’s Q&A I asked you to share your “career reset” for Labor Day 2020, so here is mine. 

SternRep has been doing well and I enjoy the crap out of it, but maybe there is more? Asking myself the questions that my pre-Covid routines didn’t leave much time to ask:

• What did I think was impossible to reach out for before (support with other reps)?
• What will challenge me a bit more and even make me nervous out of my comfort zone (hosting a webinar)?
• What have I forgotten about that makes me tick (time for myself at the ocean)?